


nails i guess

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Fluff, M/M, NB, Nonbinary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 01:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11430750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: me, having never gotten a manicure before and knowing absolutely Nothing about them: yeah i can write a fic from the pov of manicurist jong easyTaemin glances at Jonghyun out of the side of their eye. “If there was a dude that wasn’t in a frat, but walked by one three times a week, and didn’t want to give any of the dudebros any reason to notice his nails and make fun of him or whatever, what color would you pick?”“I mean,” Jonghyun says, lifting a hand to hide a giggle at that question. That was extremely specific. “Is that dude you?” he asks.tumblr





	nails i guess

"He did  _not._  Oh my god,” Jonghyun shakes his head, one hand lifting to cover his mouth in disbelief, but Gwi still nods as she pokes through her phone.

“He fucking  _did_ ,” she says, and holds it up to show Jonghyun the picture. Jonghyun can’t even look at it for more than a few seconds before shaking his head more and gently pushing it away.

“Oh my fucking god,” he says. “And he thought that was romantic?”

“I  _guess?_ ” Gwi says, shrugging wildly. “And, like, I didn’t–oh.” She stops short with a glance over Jonghyun’s shoulder. Jonghyun turns and follows her gaze to the front door of their nail salon, currently being pulled open by what looks like a college kid with wavy black hair. Gwi smiles her fake customer service smile and Jonghyun smiles half of a real smile because they’re actually pretty cute as they look around the salon like they’ve never been inside of one before. He likes their long spike earrings and dark jacket.

“Good morning!” Gwi smiles when they finally notice them behind the counter. They smile a little nervously, slipping up and resting their elbow on the desk. Jonghyun watches Gwi’s eyes immediately narrow and zoom in on that action and hides a smile by glancing behind him at the cash register. He loves when she hates people touching her desk.

“Hi, um,” the college kid says. Their hand automatically lifts up to grip the strap of their bag over their shoulder in what Jonghyun is pretty sure is a nervous gesture. Aw. Little bub. “I don’t really know? A lot about this stuff,” they say, “and, my nails are kinda. Bitten and stubby.” They look at the nails on their other hand as they speak and then show them to Jonghyun and Gwi with a sheepish shrug. Jonghyun raises his brows at the sight of them. Those are pretty nubby and uneven nails alright. “But, I have twenty dollars?” they continue. “And I wanted, like, just a coat of polish and maybe the fancy hand massage, if that’s a thing? I’m not sure if that’s a thing.”

“It’s a thing,” Jonghyun assures them. He leans up on Gwi’s desk as well, wanting to smile closer at this cute clueless babe. He likes them already. Their eyes are a warm dark brown and their lips are positively plush.

“It’s a thing that’ll be around sixteen dollars, with the polish too,” Gwi says. Jonghyun nods. Sounds about right. With an extra four for the tip, if they aren’t a garbage human.

“Oh, nice,” college kid says. They smile a little wider, more relaxed now that they were right about something. “I, uh, don’t have an appointment, or anything, but I can make one? If I have to? Do I have to?”

“I’m free right now, actually,” Jonghyun says. He glances at the little list of appointments on the desk to make sure, and yeah. His next appointment isn’t for another while. “I can do you,” he smiles. Gwi gently kicks his foot under the desk and he less gently kicks her back for trying to make that an innuendo thing. College kid bounces a little happily on their toes at that information.

“Great,” they say. Jonghyun bounces back just to bounce.

“Great,” he repeats. “C’mere and pick a color and I’ll get all set up. I’m J,” he adds as he leads them to the polish wall. It says his name on his shirt, but he just wants them to know. They glance at him, glance at his nametag, and nod.

“Taemin,” they say. Jonghyun nods back. That is a cute name. “Hey, um,” Taemin says when Jonghyun starts to leave to set up his nail station. They’re looking blankly at the rows of color, bottom lip between their teeth. They glance at Jonghyun out of the side of their eye. “If there was a dude that wasn’t in a frat, but walked by one three times a week, and didn’t want to give any of the dudebros any reason to notice his nails and make fun of him or whatever, what color would you pick?”

“I mean,” Jonghyun says, lifting a hand to hide a giggle at that question. That was extremely specific. “Is that dude you?” he asks with a cocked brow. Taemin’s lips quirk up into a little smirk.

“Yeah, maybe,” he says. Jonghyun snorts, but looks at all of the colors anyway. Hmm.

“Maybe like a dark blue,” he hums, pointing a finger vaguely towards the blue section. “Or dark green looks like it would be nice with your skin, and is also stereotypically manly, I guess,” he adds. He wouldn’t know. He stopped being a dudebro a long time ago and doesn’t know the new trends. “Maybe black, but that would a little too Hot Topic, especially with your earrings,” he shrugs.

“Mmm.” Taemin hums, lifting a hand to feel up his earlobe with a sheepish grin. “True, yeah,” he says. He hums again, looking between the greens and blues contemplatively, and Jonghyun scoots away to set up his station with a fond glance over his shoulder. He loves him a nice dudebro disliking human that values his opinion.

A minute later, he’s got his water and oil and lotion all prepped and Taemin shuffles over to him with a dusky berry blue bottle in his hand. Jonghyun nods encouragingly at his choice. That’s cute. A good color.

“Have a seat, wash your hands,” he says, papping the table in front of the chair and the little sink to the side. Taemin sits, looking nervous and self-conscious but still excited for a little pampering. “Do you want me to explain everything I’m doing?” he asks. He knows that calms other newcomers, but Taemin shrugs, shaking his head.

“Nah,” he says. “The mystery is kinda cool,” he grins. Jonghyun snorts, but shrugs back. Alright then. He hands Taemin a towel to dry his hands with. “Uh, just, here?” Taemin asks when he’s done. He hovers his hands over the little rests and Jonghyun nods.

“Perfect, yeah,” he says. When Taemin places his hands down Jonghyun gently picks the left one to inspect it. He tsks at what he sees; half of his fingertips are more skin than nail, he’s nibbled so much off. The skin is messed up too, both at the tips and in the little frays at the corners. His cuticles are okay, though, and no hangnails, so. Not as bad as it could be. There is a little dark red spot on the corner of his pinky that looks like it used to be a hangnail and is currently healing, but still. Pretty decent hands.

“A nail biting gremlin, huh?” he asks, glancing up at Taemin with a cocked brow. Taemin looks away, rubbing his nose embarrassedly with his free hand.

“I mean,” he says, voice a crooked little smile. “A picker, too,” he says, looking at his nails again before putting his hand back down. “I figure the polish will at least stop the biting, you know?” he says. Jonghyun nods knowingly.

“A lot of people come in here with the same idea,” he says. He thinks it’s neat that Taemin is trying to stop a bad habit like this. Taemin nods, wiggling his little fingers. Jonghyun bites his lip, looks towards his lotions, tries not to blush. He’s so cute close up and wiggly like this. His nose has a slight hook at the end that Jonghyun almost wants to kiss already. He’s so weak for cute boys.

“So, um,” he says quickly. “I’m gonna start,” he says, and pops the cap on his skin cleanser.

From there at least it’s pretty much muscle memory. He doesn’t have to think too hard to clean and massage Taemin’s soft hands, but he still has to look at and focus on them to work. It leaves him free to talk easily to him but also saves him from having to look at his face and blush the whole time. Jonghyun likes the situation very much.

Taemin goes to the college a few blocks away, studying mostly botany and a little bit of music composing. Jonghyun doesn’t know much about plants but he does know a lot about music, so he latches onto that to talk about. He learns that Taemin has composed a few songs himself and written lyrics for more and that he is very shy about both of them. Jonghyun is less shy about his work, so while Taemin’s hands are soaking, he sings a little bit of what he’s been working on lately. Gwi shakes her head at him behind Taemin’s back in judgement but Taemin earnestly tells him that he sounds really good, so Jonghyun knows which babe he’s listening to this afternoon.

He won’t lie and say that he’s not touching Taemin’s hands more than he has to during this whole thing. They’re just so. Soft. And warm. And slightly sweaty, which is kind of gross, but he’s had sweatier boyfriends before. It’s whatever. He looks up at Taemin through his lashes every time he does, smiling and loving the way he smiles back. He’s a little hard to read, but from the way he smiles to the things he has to say Jonghyun is getting subtle queer feels and for once he really hopes that his gaydar is right. He’s not going to come out to some stranger during their first manicure, but still. It’s nice to be gay for someone that’s probably gay also for once.

All too soon it’s over; all too soon he’s rubbed and oiled and trimmed and filed and painted and cleaned Taemin’s little nubs to perfection. They’re still short and nubby, but now they’re smooth and even and blue as they sit in a little ice bath. Taemin hasn’t really spoken since he dipped his fingers in; he’s wiggling his legs under the desk and pouting at the chill while Jonghyun tries to clean up his station instead of laugh and blush about how fucking cute that is.

Normally he has people take their hands out after three minutes, but he can’t stand Taemin’s little pout so he takes the bowl away after two. Close enough. Taemin’s first breath after Jonghyun takes the water away is one of relief, smile probably wider than normal as he gently pats his fingers dry. When he’s done, Jonghyun takes his hands, smiles at them, then smiles up at Taemin and wiggles them gently.

“All done!” he chirps. Taemin blinks, looks down at his hands, smiles at the dark blue on his nails.

“That’s it, really?” he asks, lifting them higher to get a better look. “I love them, heck,” he says. Jonghyun wiggles with pride and pats Taemin’s hands gently.

“They’re not all the way dry yet, though, so be careful,” he says. Taemin stops wiggling his fingers immediately with a little hiss and Jonghyun chuckles softly. “Just don’t go rummaging in your backpack or anything for a while and they should be fine,” he says. Taemin nods, gently touching his fingertips and nails with wonder. Jonghyun loves when he gets new clients that marvel at his work, even if it’s pretty basic. It feels good on the inside. It’s doubly good because Taemin is so extra cute as he does it, too.

“Thanks, so much,” Taemin says. He bites his lip as he glances up at Jonghyun and Jonghyun resists the urge to want to do that himself. “Do I just–do I pay and tip at the desk?” he asks, pointing behind him with a blue finger uncertainly. Jonghyun nods, flapping an encouraging little hand.

“Come back anytime,” he smiles. “You can make an appointment with me online specifically if you want,” he adds. “Gwi has the business cards,”  he adds to that, in an attempt to make it look like he wasn’t blatantly flirting. Taemin smiles, standing up carefully and still holding his hands up to look at his nails as he does so.

“I will, I promise,” he says, and gives Jonghyun a tiny wave before he walks away. Jonghyun bites his lip as he watches him walk for a moment before going back to his cleaning. Heck. Heck heck heck. He’s so fucking cute. Jonghyun hopes he actually does return for another manicure sometimes soon.

By the time he finishes cleaning his station, Taemin is gone, but Gwi is still chilling behind the counter and his next appointment hasn’t shown up yet, so he scoots back there to chill with her.

“Did you–”

“Here,” Gwi hums, handing him a five without looking up from her phone. Jonghyun blinks, takes it, folds it and stuffs it in his bag under the desk. “Your new boyfriend fumbled for like five minutes trying to ask if he should give me the tip or go back and give it to you personally,” Gwi says.

“And you  _let_ him struggle like that?” Jonghyun asks reproachfully. Rude. The way Gwi’s lips curve up into a little smirk tells him that she did it one hundred percent on purpose just for the amusement of it and he huffs again. Extra rude. “He’s really sweet, you know,” he grumbles.

“Yeah, sure,” Gwi says. “Look what this fucko sent me.” She holds up her phone to show Jonghyun another picture from the same dude as before. Jonghyun cringes almost immediately and pushes the phone away.

“Oh my fucking god, that almost makes me want to not be a boy anymore today,” he mutters. “What’d you reply?” he asks, pulling her phone back to snoop.

“Nothing yet,” Gwi says. She tugs her phone back possessively. “I told him earlier I was gonna be working and not replying until tomorrow.” Jonghyun snorts. He guesses his snooping will have to wait until tomorrow then.

~

The next day, Jonghyun learns during his quick lunch break that Gwi told the dude he was gross and blocked him and already found yet another dude to talk to. He peeps over her shoulder as he sips the smoothie he got from the place next door as he judges their conversation.

“You know, you can get your validation from, like, a different source than one new fuckboy a day on kik,” he tells her. “There’s like. Friends and the comments on baking videos on youtube.”

“Yeah, but those are like, emotional platonic validation,” Gwi mumbles. “This is like. I post a pic of the titty and boom, seventeen guys are trying to hit me up, and then double boom, it’s glaringly obvious that I’m better than all of them.”

“So you’re saying you just want to know that there are fuckboys out there that wanna bang you but will never be good enough to,” Jonghyun says flatly. Gwi shrugs, an innocent little smile on her lips as she replies to some dude that she’s better than.

“Maybe I like feeling royal,” she hums. “Besides,” she says, clicking her phone asleep and looking up to seal a chip from Jonghyun’s bag. “It’s not like–oh my god.”

“Hmm?” Jonghyun glances over his shoulder to follow her gaze to the door of the salon and the person that’s opening it. He does a doubletake when he sees who it is. It’s–”Oh my god,” Jonghyun whispers himself.

“Uh, hi,” Taemin says a little sheepishly as he walks up to them. Jonghyun glances at Gwi; Gwi glances back at him in the most judgemental way possible before looking back.

“Hi, can I help you?” she asks pleasantly. Taemin rubs his nose, bites his lip, looks at Jonghyun a little guiltily.

“Yeah, um,” he says.”Remember when you asked if I was a nail biting gremlin, and then I said I was also a nail picking gremlin? Because, uh.” He holds up his hands to show them his nails–his completely bare, polish free nails.

“Holy shit,” Gwi says. Jonghyun thinks the same thing but doesn’t say it. That’s honestly impressive.

“So, uh, yeah,” Taemin says. “I would’ve made an appointment online but I lost the card, but, um, when? Is your next opening? I just want, like, the most basic polish and nothing else.” He wiggles his clear little fingers with a hopeful look. Jonghyun just leans his chin up in his hand and smiles.

“You’re really cute,” he says bluntly. Taemin blinks, smiles, looks away, bites his lip, and blushes. Gwi kicks Jonghyun under the desk again but Jonghyun can’t even find it in himself to care. He’s just enjoying watching Taemin’s face scrunch all up in embarrassment.


End file.
